Taking shakespeare out of the dock: an alternative reading and method of teaching shakespeare’s othello in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Taking Shakespeare’s Othello as a case study, this paper proposes a novel method of reading and teaching traditional and canonical literary texts. Othello has been interpreted by critics in a highly conservative way so that it has been seen as endorsing existing racial hierarchies, but never as questioning or destabilising them. This research paper offers an alternative reading of Othello by showing how Shakespeare’s dramatic strategy rebutted racism and subverted the racist outlook arguing that the playwright, intentionally reverses the central roles of the play by turning Iago, the white Venetian, into the villain and Othello, the Moor and stereotyped villain, into the noble hero. The paper also proposes an innovative teaching method of Shakespeare’s plays through incorporating technology and modern media. In proposing these novel methods in reading and teaching Othello, the paper attempts to demonstrate the relevance and the literary value of Shakespeare in the Twenty-first Century and to help teachers motivate their learners through a combination of effective and engaging teaching approaches.